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If you’re any type of writer, you’ve experienced writer’s block. Whether you write for fun, for work, for school, or for any other reason, you’ve looked at a page and felt your mind go as blank as the page itself.

Writer’s block is the bane of my existence as a writer, and I’m sure it’s yours too right now if you’re consulting this post for some amount of help. And I totally understand, I hope this post will serve as a life preserver as you drift maddeningly in a sea of blankness hopefully toward another idea.

Here are a few ways to destroy your writer’s block and keep on moving:

Stop writing
If you’re facing a deadline, this might sound like the scariest thing in the world. But honestly, sometimes the best way to stop the writer’s block is to stop writing altogether.
Hyper-focusing on something can drive you insane, so sometimes you need to just stop in order to continue to move forward. Scroll through Twitter for a little bit, watch an Episode of Friends or something, just take your mind off the task. You will continue to process information about your work while you do something else.

Go for a walk
If you feel completely brain dead, you might need to get up and move around. I suggest going for a walk or at the very least do some laps around your room or house. Moving around gets the blood flowing through the brain, which is vital for your brain to function, which is vital for writing.
So, get out of your office chair. Pull yourself out of your plush armchair, no matter how painful. And take a quick walk around the block. The fresh air might help you too.

Use a Writer’s Block from WriteWorldOne of the best tools I’ve found for writing is a Tumblr Blog called WriteWorld. And god, it’s saved me from writer’s block a million times.
Sometimes, when I’m not even on a deadline, and I just want to write, I get hit with writer’s block. WriteWorld has sought to solve this problem by creating things called blocks in order to prompt some creativity. They come in the form of images, music, and sentences.
Even if you’re stuck on an assigned piece or a paper writing a little bit on another topic may force some more creativity out of you that you can apply to your more pressing project.

Don’t edit, write
I am guilty of this. Instead of writing and letting the words flow, I always go back through my work and try to fix it as I go. This is NOT productive because you might feel like you can’t do anything right.
Instead of focusing on the accuracy of what you’re writing or your grammar, just write. You can always go back and polish your piece later.

Read, research, relaxIf you’re working on a paper, you probably have some other tasks to tackle while you’re writing. Instead of writing why don’t you read something else? Why don’t you read up on the topic on which you’re writing? Why don’t you do literally anything else!? Take a power nap; your mind will continue to flow while you shift your focus. If you feel guilty doing anything else with your time apart from working, shift to a task that doesn’t require your full creative attention. Give your brain a break.

On the Author…

Hi there,

I’m Olive and I’m a recent graduate from an English Major program at a school somewhere in California (I’m not saying exactly where for fear of getting stalked and killed by a serial killer, forgive me).

When I’m not writing, I’m probably reading. And if I’m not reading I’m probably listening to music, which is just poetry set to music… so I guess I’m still reading… So you could say I’m almost always reading or writing or doing something reading/writing adjacent.

Words are my passion, my obsession, and what consumes my everyday life.

Even when I’m at a movie I pay special attention to the use of language – or the use of the lack of language – when it comes to the storytelling. I’m really, really obsessed with language.

So naturally, I should create a blog where I can further express my obsession with an audience other than my friends. They don’t deserve to hear me ramble on like this, now do they?

This blog will consist of my writings about writing, and reading, and speaking, and my life. I guess you could call this a journal of sorts, but a journal with an audience.

I do hope you enjoy a peek into my mind and hopefully, I’ll be able to help some of you with your questions about words and word-ing.

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